Who is SFIA for?

The design and structure of SFIA makes it a flexible resource with a proven track record of being adopted and adapted to support a wide variety of skills and people-management related activities. The following list provides an indication of the current usage of SFIA by different stakeholder groups. Note that this list is neither exhaustive nor prescriptive, and new uses of SFIA are continually being developed and described by the SFIA community.

Individuals

• assessing current skills and competencies
• identifying future interests, career goals, and planning personal development
• identifying suitable courses, qualifications, and professional memberships
• creating CVs, resumés, and personal skills profiles
• applying for job vacancies which match their skills and experience
• developing high quality, focused, learning and development objectives

Line managers

• resource management and resource deployment
• identifying operational risks in teams and developing succession plans
• measuring current capability and planning for future demand
• creating role profiles and job descriptions supported by skill and skill level definitions

Organisational leaders

• strategic capability planning
• aligning organisational capabilities to technology and business strategies
• planning and implementing transformations and mergers / acquisitions

Human resource professionals

• creating role profiles / job descriptions supported by consistent skill and skill level definitions
• strategic workforce planning, talent management, succession planning, assessment centres
• designing and implementing career families and career pathways
• supporting organisational performance management and personal development processes
• improving employee engagement by supporting careers and professional development

Learning and development professionals

• defining required competency and skills profiles
• creating learning catalogues, blended learning solutions, curriculum, and mixing formal and on the job learning

Operating model and organisation design consultants

• aligning operating models and process roles with required people capabilities
• designing new roles and validating the skills needed to deliver a new operating model
• assessing organisational skill gaps and developing plans to close the gaps

Procurement, supplier management and service providers

• supporting the management of service providers (e.g. for outsourcing, staff augmentation, managed services, education, training, and consultancy services)
• providing a clear and transparent basis for describing capabilities being sought or provided
• using SFIA Rate Cards for like-for-like comparison of resource-based services from suppliers

Recruiters

• specifying required competencies based on having the right skills with the required level of experience
• helping employers to accurately describe what they need, in language that potential employees understand
• creating competency-based selection criteria and assessment approaches

Professional bodies and their Bodies of Knowledge

• creating discipline-specific competency frameworks aligned to a global standard
• linking bodies of knowledge to competencies
• mapping to support membership levels, certifications, professional development and mentoring programmes
• developing and mapping qualifications, accreditations and career paths
• creating and maintaining a professional register of members’ skills and skill levels

Education providers, training providers, curriculum designers

• aligning curriculum to industry / employer needs and improving employability
• mapping curriculum to skills and knowledge attainment
• supporting developmental and evaluative skills assessment

Reward and recognition consultants

• aligning organisation structures, salary banding and benchmarking
• linking to an industry standard for levels of skills experience, and being compatible with standard approaches for job architectures, job sizing and job evaluation.